Researchers develop system to block phone use while driving

By Dakota Torres on 07/06/2012

There are plenty of dangers to texting/calling while driving and around the world and many countries have already, or are in the process of, enacting laws laws that prohibit textiing/calling while driving, yet tons of people still do it.

Many argue that despite these laws, having a phone conversation via a bluetooth headset is still distracting and dangerous. Researchers at Anna University of Technology in Tamilnadu, India may have come up with a new way of preventing drivers from texting/calling while driving.

The system developed by the researchers solves this problem by being able to detect whether a driver is using his phone while the car is in a motion and sets off a mobile jammer to cease all cellphone signal. The tricky part of the research was developing a way to shut off only the driver’s signal and not the passengers, but since it is a low-range jammer it shouldn’t affect other passenger’s devices.

Although some would argue that what if it was an emergency and your call got shutdown, this system could potentially save thousands of lives each year in car accidents. Researchers also mentioned that the system could also be used for sending a car’s registration info to a traffic office whenever a driver does something illegal, thus replacing the need for red light cameras. It will be interesting to see how this system is implemented into the traffic world in the future and we will keep you updated on the status of it.